The present invention relates to an installation for conveying bulk materials with a conveyor belt, which moves from a loading station to an unloading station, which is constructed on its two sides with a multiplicity of mutually spaced apart support rollers that can be moved along a support track, and which is guided over deflection drums at the loading station and the unloading station. A device, by way of which the conveyor belt is turned through about 180xc2x0, is furthermore provided after the deflection drum that is situated at the unloading station, and a device, by way of which the conveyor belt is turned back through about 180xc2x0, is provided in front of the deflection drum that is situated at the loading station.
Prior art installations for conveying bulk materials have a conveyor belt that is guided over deflection drums in the regions of the two ends of the installation. However, the prior art installations do not meet the requirements made of them inasmuch as the loading side of the conveyor belt faces downward as the conveyor belt is moved back from the unloading station to the loading station, with the result that conveyed material that has remained on the conveyor belt can fall off the latter. Since this poses a risk to persons, vehicles and equipment underneath the installation and there is, at the very least, the possibility that the area underneath the installation will be contaminated, there is a need to arrange protective devices, e.g. covers, underneath the conveyor belt.
To avoid this disadvantage, it has furthermore been proposed, in the case of installations for conveying bulk materials, to arrange a device that turns the conveyor belt through 180xc2x0 after the deflection drum situated in the unloading station, ensuring that the conveying side of the conveyor belt strand that is running back to the loading station faces upward, and to arrange a second device, which turns the conveyor belt back through 180xc2x0, in front of the deflection drum situated in the loading station. Since the loading side of the conveyor belt strand that is being moved back from the unloading station to the loading station also faces upward in this case, the above-mentioned disadvantages of the other prior art conveying installations are thereby avoided.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a conveying installation, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and which is constructed with turning devices and meets in an optimum manner the requirements made of such devices as regards the ability to ensure trouble-free operation during the operation of a conveying installation for bulk materials.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an installation for conveying bulk materials, comprising:
a conveyor belt extending between a loading station and an unloading station;
a support track extending between the loading station and the unloading station;
a multiplicity of mutually spaced-apart support rollers laterally supported along said conveyor belt and configured to move along said support track track;
a first deflection drum disposed at the loading station and a second deflection drum disposed at the unloading station;
a turning device for turning said conveyor belt through substantially 180xc2x0 about an axis along a travel direction of said conveyor belt following said second deflection drum in the travel direction;
a turning device for turning back said conveyor belt through substantially 180xc2x0 in front of said second deflection drum in the travel direction;
each of said turning devices including a support structure substantially of hollow-cylindrical form, and two spiral guides disposed inside said support structure and configured to support thereon said support rollers, said two spiral guides lying substantially diametrically opposite one another and executing a helical turn of about 180xc2x0 over a length of said support structure.
In other words, the objects of the invention are achieved by virtue of the fact that each turning device is formed by a support structure in the form of a hollow cylinder, arranged on the inside of which are two spiral guides, along which the support rollers arranged to the side of the conveyor belt can be moved, these two guides lying approximately diametrically opposite one another and executing an angular rotation of about 180xc2x0 over the length of the support structure.
The support structure is preferably formed by a multiplicity of support frames which are formed approximately in a ring shape and are connected rigidly to one another by means of spars extending in the longitudinal direction of the turning device, the support frames being constructed on their inside with two apertures in each case, which are angularly offset in the case of adjacent support frames and in which the guides are held. According to a preferred embodiment, the guides are formed by two pairs of tubes or the like, between which the support rollers can be moved. The guides are preferably constructed with entry slopes at their front ends in a manner known per se. Two rails or the like, which extend in the longitudinal direction of the turning device and along which the support rollers of the strand of the conveyor belt which is moving in the conveying direction can be moved, are furthermore preferably arranged on the upper side of the support frames.
According to a preferred embodiment, the-conveyor belt is constructed with lateral corrugated edges in a manner known per se and is furthermore constructed in a manner known per se with support beams that are aligned transversely to its longitudinal direction and on the two ends of which the support rollers are mounted.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an installation for conveying bulk materials, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.